About

Hi.  I'm Heather.  I've had an on-again/off-again relationship with dieting and weight loss for pretty much my whole life.  I am a stress-baker, and subsequently a stress-eater.  I don't handle change very well, I cope by cooking - and therefore, eating.  I don't like to run.  Or be sweaty.  Or over-exert myself.

Clearly, I am a case-study in food and exercise issues.

I have a husband who is a chef (and before you ask, no he doesn't always make awesome things for dinner. Sometimes we have Hamburger Helper, just like everyone else).  We are raising two kids - Abby is 14 and Finn is 3

About 3 years ago, in the midst of a major move and during the heat of an Iowa summer, I threw out my back.  At the time, I had a baby who wasn't yet mobile, a surly 11 year old and we were in a new town with nary a family member or friend for 200 miles.  Oh, and my husband had just started a new job (read: 50+ hour work weeks), I had just decided to be a stay-at-mom and we were valiantly trying to figure out how our new household positions worked.  For example: Do I have to do all the laundry now that I stay at home?  When do I get a day off?  Can I consider yoga pants my "work uniform?"  How do we balance everything now that my work is home and my home is work?.  In retrospect, throwing out my back was the best thing to ever happen to me and it is ultimately what catapulted me into an exercise and weight-loss routine.  You can read about some of my weight loss struggles and triumphs here and here and here.

I have since lost almost 50 pounds, but over the course of yet another major move, this time from Iowa to Northern Minnesota, and a very, very, very long and cold Minnesota winter, I've only managed to keep about 40 of those pounds off.

READ THIS, IF NOTHING ELSE!!  I am not a doctor (although I play one in my head).  This blog is about my awesome parenting skillz and my weight-loss blog is about things that work for me.  I am not endorsed by Weight Watchers (even though I could totally have taken Jessica Simpson's place when she got knocked up again) or by Dr. Atkins (because he's no longer alive, so he can't endorse me. Obviously.). Talk to your doctor if you want to start losing weight.  Mine told me lots of things that would be benefits to losing weight (Smaller boobs! No plantar fascittis! No back pain!) and lots of things that made me want to cry into my ill-fitting paper gown if I didn't lose some weight (umm...death.  And also diabetes.  And also...death. That was a pretty big one, actually.).